Padres GM says Yu Darvish wants to rehab from surgery at own pace
SAN DIEGO — Yu Darvish is starting the season on the San Diego Padres‘ restricted checklist as a result of the veteran right-hander wants to intentionally proceed in his restoration from elbow surgery whereas he contemplates his future, common supervisor AJ Preller stated.
Preller praised Darvish’s determination for its advantages to the crew and its followers Thursday whereas he spoke within the dugout earlier than opening day at Petco Park. But the GM additionally indicated the transfer does not essentially imply he’ll have more cash to pursue one other pitcher for the Padres’ seemingly skinny rotation.
“Yu Darvish is a very special person, a very special player,” Preller stated. “He’s very unique. This situation is unique. Somebody that’s thinking about the good of the organization, the team, the fan base. Wanting to get back, but you can’t put your heart into it, it would be very easy for him just to say, ‘You know what? I’m going to sit on the IL,’ and what that means for him from a compensation standpoint.
“He’s not doing that. He is aware of that his coronary heart’s not fairly into it, however he is going to proceed with the rehab course of, and perhaps we get to subsequent yr and he is feeling in a unique place and he wants to come again.”
Preller said the Padres had planned for this unusual move throughout the offseason, and it was finalized over the past several weeks in conversation with the commissioner’s office and the players’ union.
While on the restricted list, the 39-year-old Darvish doesn’t receive his salary — a condition that few major leaguers would accept voluntarily. Darvish was awarded $43 million for the final three seasons of a $108 million, six-year contract: $15 million in 2026 and $14 million each in 2027 and 2028.
Preller, however, said the five-time All-Star from Japan cared more about being able to spend extra time with his family instead of participating in the daily grind of rehab work in San Diego.
Darvish isn’t definitely ready to retire, but he also isn’t quite certain he wants to go through the lengthy rehab grind required by a second major elbow surgery. He had Tommy John surgery in 2015.
“He’s been very straight-up all through the offseason, after the surgery,” Preller said. “Just finally, he is not likely in a spot to work at the extent and talent that he wants to work at and he is accustomed to working at. He wants to sort of do it at his pace. … Just quite a lot of respect for what he is attempting to do.”
Darvish won’t pitch all in 2026, but Preller couldn’t definitively say how long Darvish will spend on the restricted list.
Preller appeared to gently discourage the notion among Padres fans that the move could clear up payroll room for San Diego to sign one of the top remaining free agent starting pitchers on the market, saying he had been aware of the likelihood of this move “all through the entire offseason.”
“In phrases of the planning for it, it does not actually change something from our finish,” Preller added.
Opening day starter Nick Pivetta and Michael King top the Padres’ rotation, but Joe Musgrove is starting the season on the injured list with right elbow inflammation after his own return from Tommy John surgery went slower than expected.
“Not actually placing a timeframe on it,” Preller said of Musgrove’s return. “…We’ll know much more within the subsequent week to 10 days.”
The remainder of San Diego’s rotation at present seems to be spring indicators Walker Buehler and German Marquez alongside Randy Vasquez.
